By Christopher Price | Comments Off on What the rest of the day looks like for the Patriots

OK, now that we have a few moments to breathe, here’s a quick update as to what’s ahead for New England:

5th round pick — 170th overall: This is a compensatory pick that cannot be traded.6th round pick — 207th overall: This is also a compensatory pick that cannot be traded.7th round pick — 232nd overall: This was a pick that was picked up in a trade with Jacksonville earlier in the day.7th round pick — 234th overall: An assigned pick.

The Patriots took their first linebacker at No. 97, taking Tyrone McKenzie out of the University of South Florida. (More on McKenzie can be found here and here.) A 6-foot-2, 235-pound outside linebacker who was a first-team All-BIG EAST selection, he finished his senior season with 116 tackles, including 14.5 tackles for a loss. He spent a year each at Michigan State and Iowa State before transferring for his final two years to USF.

The 23-year-old certainly has had to endure a lot in his life — his father Ruppert, passed away when he was nine. “My father died when I was nine and having to become the man of the house helped me mature,” McKenzie said in an interview earlier this year. “It helped me become a man. It helped me on the field as well. It helped me get to the situation I am right now.”

The Patriots selected wide receiver Brandon Tate out of North Carolina. Tate is a 6-foot, 195-pounder who established an NCAA combined kick-return yardage record (3,523 yards) and was 304 yards shy of the NCAA record for kick return yardage. (Here’s video of him.) However, his career was derailed when he suffered a knee injury against Notre Dame earlier this season and missed the final seven games of the season. Then, at the combine, he apparently tested positive for marijuana.